Total Overhaul

[Sawdustguy]

Well we have been doing this for 2 years (7 contests) and the best we have done was 5th overall at Merrimack. Up until now we have made all of our sauces and rubs except the FAB prodects. It certainly appears that we absolutely suck at doing so. From now on we are going to use commercial sauces and rubs. We are going to swallow our pride and admit we will never win with our own stuff. I just spent a small fortune on commercial rubs and sauces. As soon as us Polocks get this stuff sorted out, watch out gentlemen.

[BBQchef33]

boy that sounds familiar. sage thinking .. ;)

[tony76248]

I have made my own sauces but realized long ago that there are widely accepted sauces out there, therefore why buck the system, plus it's a lot of work and time and money making your own.

[spicewine]

Guy: Let me know if I can help. It may save you another year of hit and miss on matching the sauce to the rub.

Spice

[Sawdustguy]

boy that sounds familiar. sage thinking .. ;)

Come on now Phil, you know we are Polocks with skulls as hard as stone.:eek: :roll: :biggrin:

[Mrs. Sawdust]

Guy: Let me know if I can help. It may save you another year of hit and miss on matching the sauce to the rub.

Spice


Jay,
I did buy your rubs a few weeks ago but unfortunately when I went to test them Guy had eaten them with a spoon!!??? I guess he really liked the flavor. Looks like I am in need of reordering them.

[Sledneck]

Jay,
I did buy your rubs a few weeks ago but unfortunately when I went to test them Guy had eaten them with a spoon!!??? I guess he really liked the flavor. Looks like I am in need of reordering them.
Thats no joke, i eat the hen and hog rub straight up

[MilitantSquatter]

Guy: Let me know if I can help. It may save you another year of hit and miss on matching the sauce to the rub.

Spice

Jay's got a good point... You can have a great rub and a great sauce but they might not compliment each other.

I guess the little Spicebox will be busy this fall and winter !!!

I remember the day Sean and I cooked about 12 racks of ribs using 6 different rubs and 2-3 sauces before we began competing to try out a lot of products I bought online. Everything was going great until the hot spot on the Pitts & Spitts stickburner was cranking too much and we rotated the ribs but forgot to keep track of positions. At the end of the cook, we knew which ribs tasted best, but could not pinpoint which rub/sauce combo we used for certain. By the fifth rib sample they all tasted the same anyway.

Looking back, I blew a lot of cash on all those products, but it was fun. I don't use any of them in contests anylonger but some are still my favorites for home use.

[Sawdustguy]

Jay's got a good point... You can have a great rub and a great sauce but they might not compliment each other.

I guess the little Spicebox will be busy this fall and winter !!!

I remember the day Sean and I cooked about 12 racks of ribs using 6 different rubs and 2-3 sauces. Everything was going great until the hot spot on the Pitts & Spitts stickburner was cranking too much and we rotated positions and forgot to keep track of positions.

Vinny,

We tried simplifing our rubs but even I can tell they are not right. We are happy with the way we are cooking things and we attribute that to the Spicewine. Man she purrs like a kitten. Our flavors are way out in left field. I have a freezer in the garage that is full of stuff to experiment with. We were doing to do exhaustive testing but maybe Jay can help us get to where we need to be. Jay, thank you for the offer of help. We will be ordering another Spicewine round about November time frame. The large is a little too big to haul around in our Battlewagon. I can't hardly wait.

[Sledneck]

Vinny,

We tried simplifing our rubs but even I can tell they are not right. We are happy with the way we are cooking things and we attribute that to the Spicewine. Man she purrs like a kitten. Our flavors are way out in left field. I have a freezer in the garage that is full of stuff to experiment with. We were doing to do exhaustive testing but maybe Jay can help us get to where we need to be. Jay, thank you for the offer of help. We will be ordering another Spicewine round about November time frame. The large is a little too big to haul around in our Battlewagon. I can't hardly wait.
Reading between the lines.....is their gonna be a large spicewine for sale soon?

[Sawdustguy]

Reading between the lines.....is their gonna be a large spicewine for sale soon?

Don't know yet. Maybe.....Maybe not. Lets see what November brings. If I do decide to sell it I will give you first shot. It's really up to the wife. She loves cooking on the large.

[Kung Fu BBQ]

dont do it. Sure I've never won any thing either, but there is some personal pride involved here. Stick to your guns.

Then again, maybe in another year I'll be steaming the labels off of a cattlemens bottle.

[Sledneck]

Don't know yet. Maybe.....Maybe not. Lets see what November brings. If I do decide to sell it I will give you first shot. It's really up to the wife. She loves cooking on the large.
Let me know/ After cooking on vinnies(even with the chickengrate incident) I caught the bug. What an awesome cooker

[CTSmokehouse]

Don't know yet. Maybe.....Maybe not. Lets see what November brings. If I do decide to sell it I will give you first shot. It's really up to the wife. She loves cooking on the large.

The Q that you cooked on your large Spicewine for me at Dr. BBQ was superb. My wife remarked that this was your best to date... due to Dr. BBQ and your cooking on a great Spicewine. If you decide to give it a new home where it will be really appreciated, please let me know.

Yours in BBQ,

Cliff

[pigmaker23]

just be careful to make sure your product isnt a clone of everyone elses also, 5th place after two seasons is nothing to ashamed of, i would experiment with both yours and commerical or perhaps a mixture of them both, keep notes it helps, also practice tasteing on one product per weekend.. its less confusing .. :-o

[The Giggler]

Guy,

With all the great products out there, we have found that experimenting with commercial products has been good. I had to get over the pride thing too b/c initially I thought that if you weren't using your own stuff you couldn't lay total claim to the victory. That's all BS. Of course, we add things too. Heat, sweet etc.

We are fairly new to this competition thing, and the only sauce that has been our own is the recipe we use on pulled pork. Everything else is some variation of a bottle brew. Rubs are another thing all together. We have a Mild Rub that is used for catering. In the past it has been successful with cayenne added for pulled pork, and brown sugar added for ribs.

In no way do I feel qualified to offer advice, but every now and again we get it right and take a trip to the stage. The best advice I received was to layer flavors, and make sure that the rub and sauce compliment each other.

You guys were nice to meet @ Harpoon. Wish we could have spent more time talking about cooking. Thanks again for the tour of your battle wagon and the Spicewine. You've got me thinking....

Mike
Giggling Pigs BBQ Co

[Sawdustguy]

Thats no joke, i eat the hen and hog rub straight up

Word Up! When we recieved Jay's Hen and Hog Dust I tasted it and quickly put it somewhere where Michele couldn't find it. The next time she went out I got me a spoon and went to town. When she returned she went sniff, sniff and asked what the hell I've been eating. She said I reeked of Garlic. I took some abuse for eating it all but it was all worth it. That stuff is primo.

[Sawdustguy]

Guy,

With all the great products out there, we have found that experimenting with commercial products has been good. I had to get over the pride thing too b/c initially I thought that if you weren't using your own stuff you couldn't lay total claim to the victory. That's all BS. Of course, we add things too. Heat, sweet etc.

We are fairly new to this competition thing, and the only sauce that has been our own is the recipe we use on pulled pork. Everything else is some variation of a bottle brew. Rubs are another thing all together. We have a Mild Rub that is used for catering. In the past it has been successful with cayenne added for pulled pork, and brown sugar added for ribs.

In no way do I feel qualified to offer advice, but every now and again we get it right and take a trip to the stage. The best advice I received was to layer flavors, and make sure that the rub and sauce compliment each other.

You guys were nice to meet @ Harpoon. Wish we could have spent more time talking about cooking. Thanks again for the tour of your battle wagon and the Spicewine. You've got me thinking....

Mike
Giggling Pigs BBQ Co

Mike,

It was our pleasure. You had quite some setup yourself. Hopefully we can get some of this stuff sorted out during the winter. It would be nice to become competitive. Even if we don't, we have the greatest time at contests. It has brought my brother and I closer together. Now, if I could only get him to go easier on the beer.

[DawgPhan]

I make a lot of my own sauces and rubs and have had some limited success with it, but I started using the homebbq.com beef rub on my briskets and my scores have gone up about 30 points or so...from 129's pretty much every time to 159 the last time I turned it in.

What I really need to pick up is a good sauce for pork because what I like and what the judges like are 2 totally different things.

[The Giggler]

Mike,

It was our pleasure. You had quite some setup yourself. Hopefully we can get some of this stuff sorted out during the winter. It would be nice to become competitive. Even if we don't, we have the greatest time at contests. It has brought my brother and I closer together. Now, if I could only get him to go easier on the beer.

I know what you mean, my brother and I used to race sailboats together. We had a great time, and usually finished last (picture the final scene in Tommy Boy:). He's a valuable member of the team. Harpoon was the first contest he missed.

Drink less beer at a brewery?!?! Good luck with that. Actually, restrained myself to focus on cooking Friday night. Nice to see the sun break without a headache....

If you are interested, send me a PM with your address, I'd be glad to send out some rub for you to try. As a matter of fact, I just picked it up @ the spice grinder last week.

[cmcadams]

I think a 5th overall, depending on the competition, is great after 7 comps. We've had a 4th overall, and the same number of comps. I'm still doing my own, except for Fab products, too. I plan to continue for now. I don't think it's cheating not to use your own; I just want to come up with my own.

What I'm doing differently though is going for a core flavor profile, and then adding something a bit extra. We've taken a 2nd in brisket against some strong teams, and everything else is moving up, too.

[ique]

From now on we are going to use commercial sauces and rubs.

I think this is a good move. I believe that more than a few of the top national teams use one commercial rub and one commercial sauce on all four entries. Its a safe call to go with say, Head Country rub and sauce and maybe some honey. You just aren't going to bomb your flavor scores using tried and true classic competition ingredients.

I see a lot of newer teams spend a lot of time thinking about various rubs and sauces. Lotta Bull and Pellet Envy don't win because of their rub and sauce selections. They win because the can consistently cook all four meats perfectly. Perfectly cooked meat wins contests not rubs or sauces. I know you didn't ask for advice :icon_blush: , just my .02

[Sawdustguy]

No problem Chris. We take all advice seriously. I whole heartedly agree with what you are saying. I also think getting the flavors right helps. I guess if we want to be competitive we will need to hit on all cylinders and do it consistantly. One good showing does not make us a competitive team. We are starting anew. The only definite we have right now is our spicebox purring like a kitten. We will build on that. We also know it's not gonna happen overnight.

[The Giggler]

I think this is a good move. I believe that more than a few of the top national teams use one commercial rub and one commercial sauce on all four entries. Its a safe call to go with say, Head Country rub and sauce and maybe some honey. You just aren't going to bomb your flavor scores using tried and true classic competition ingredients.

I see a lot of newer teams spend a lot of time thinking about various rubs and sauces. Lotta Bull and Pellet Envy don't win because of their rub and sauce selections. They win because the can consistently cook all four meats perfectly. Perfectly cooked meat wins contests not rubs or sauces. I know you didn't ask for advice :icon_blush: , just my .02

So is the HC rub and sauce w/ Honey how you edged us out by .0002 to take first in Chicken @ Harpoon? :-D

[ique]

So is the HC rub and sauce w/ Honey how you edged us out by .0002 to take first in Chicken @ Harpoon? :-D

I can't quite remember :wink: but I think that was blues hog rub, head country sauce and maple syrup.

[The Giggler]

I can't quite remember :wink: but I think that was blues hog rub, head country sauce and maple syrup.

I am having a great time experimenting with different products. The refridgerator contains more 1/2 used bottles of sauce, than beer. Gotta work on that.

Any new products out there worth giving a try?

[ggriffi]

I am having a great time experimenting with different products. The refridgerator contains more 1/2 used bottles of sauce, than beer. Gotta work on that.

Any new products out there worth giving a try?

You got 1/2 used bottles of beer in the fridge????????

gary

[LostNation]

Damm, I guess the cat's out of the bag about using Maple syrup in Vermont!!!!!!


I can't quite remember :wink: but I think that was blues hog rub, head country sauce and maple syrup.

[mds2]

I have made my own sauces but realized long ago that there are widely accepted sauces out there, therefore why buck the system, plus it's a lot of work and time and money making your own.

I found this out the hard way. I spent a full year trying to make a sauce that I really love, but I could never pin it down.

So I decided to take a commercial sauce that I really like and dress it up a bit. By just adding a couple ingredients to a sauce that I already liked I made exactly what i was looking for.

[SmokeInDaEye]

Good luck experimenting, Guy. I'm messing around a little with my flavor combos in pork as well.

There's definitely worse ways to spend the Fall and Winter than firing up the smoker!

[Sawdustguy]

Good luck experimenting, Guy. I'm messing around a little with my flavor combos in pork as well.

There's definitely worse ways to spend the Fall and Winter than firing up the smoker!

I agree Clint! I never said it was all bad.:wink: :biggrin: